Lace Sensor Red/Blue vs Purple/Emerald

[Cdwillis]

I'm looking for some advice for anybody that has experience with Lace Sensors. I want to swap the stock single coils out of my Fender Player Mustang. I like the idea of the Lace Sensors due to the association with Smashing Pumpkins, even though I'm not trying to cop that exact tone, plus they'll look close to stock.

The stock pickups are low output at about 6.12 in the neck and 6.23 in the bridge. I'd like a little more output, a little more warmth in the bridge (but not dull), and less noise. Red bridge and blue neck seems like the classic combo, but I'm worried it'll be a little bit too much midrange and too warm. Purple and Emerald seem like the newer option. I've heard the emerald in the neck does a good Texas blues single coil sound so I'm anticipating liking it, but the Purple is kind of a toss up. Does anyone know how it compares to a Red?

I've listened to a couple YouTube demos, but you know how YouTube compression and laptop speakers/headphones do to the actual sound of a recording.

[ICTGoober]

You could just go to the source...

https://lacemusic.com/

[Cdwillis]

Yeah, you think I didn't do that already?

[idsnowdog]

I have a Yamaha Pacifica with a red/blue bridge, gold middle, and silver neck. The red and blue are pretty similar and having the two together make for a fairly strong but dark bridge position. I would like to try a purple or maroon with the red to see if the series bridge humbucker sound was more lively and less dark. I tried the blue in the neck but it was too loud and dark. I also tried the silver in the middle and gold in the neck but the silver was too loud for the center position and the gold was too weak for the neck. The silver is perfect for the neck and gold perfect for the middle position. I don't have any experience with either the purple or emerald.

Lace Sensors are a binary choice for a lot of people and you either like or dislike them. The Lace Sensors are also remarkably consistent across their entire line so that's why there are so many different colors. Each may sound a bit different but they all sound like Lace Sensors. I would start with a Red bridge and Silver neck because those two are some of the easiest/cheapest to find used $30 and you can see if you like the Lace sound. The Emerald and Purple are harder to find and you will probably need to buy them new. You will end up losing money if you don't like them and sell them but you won't lose any money buying or selling used Gold, Silver, Blue, or Reds.

[Cdwillis]

I found a decent deal on reverb for the Purple and Emerald at $47/each and jumped on it. That's the same as the Red/Blue/Silver/Golds I saw, so I grabbed them. I may experiment with a Red and a Silver since they were pretty abundant and cheap on there. Like you said, I could flip them and not really lose much money.

I dug around and found some specs for their whole range, I'll share it here just in case someone comes across it later.

[idsnowdog]

I found a decent deal on reverb for the Purple and Emerald at $47/each and jumped on it. That's the same as the Red/Blue/Silver/Golds I saw, so I grabbed them. I may experiment with a Red and a Silver since they were pretty abundant and cheap on there. Like you said, I could flip them and not really lose much money.

The purple should be fine for the bridge position. Its resonant peak, resistance and inductance are reasonable for a bridge position. You may run into the same problem with the emerald that I did with the gold though. What I found was the resonant peak was high enough and the resistance low enough that I had trouble balancing the hotter bridge and weak neck position. Also since it was low resistance the bass was too loose and the treble was fizzy. I found the silver to be sweet focused and much better balanced.

[Cdwillis]

If the Purple works well and the Emerald is wonky then I'll give a Silver a shot in the neck. The reason I was comparing the Red/Blue combo to Purple/Emerald was because that's what they use in the three pickup sets they offer, so I figured they'd be balanced.

After digging around I found that Silver seems to be the only one that has an option to come reverse-wound, so even if they're quieter, a RW Silver in the neck should make the middle position dead quiet.